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Aurora Borealis on Display in Quebec, Canada

By Andrew Fazekas posted 11-04-2021 10:30

  
Hi fellow AWBers!  Just wanted to share my experience from late last night (Nov.3/4) with my attempt to catch some Northern Lights. I live in a small town just southwest of Montreal, Quebec and despite moderate light pollution I managed to visually spot very faint auroras near the northern horizon around the midnight hour.  Earth got hit by a super-charged CME and it sparked a G-3 class geomagnetic storm, which then triggered auroras seen across Europe, Canada, northern US states and even aurora were spotted in the Southern Hemisphere.  I've been fortunate to have seen many strong displays in the past decades, but it has been many years that I've seen any at all from my home where there is so much light pollution.  So now with solar activity picking up as we head into the upswing of the sun's 11-year cycle, I am optimistic there will be more opportunities to come in the coming months and years.

While the auroras appeared extremely faint to my naked eyes (with distinct red hues) I managed to easily capture the photographic auroras with more color via my handheld iPhone12 ProMax with 8 to 12 second exposures (see below). I was pleasantly surprised by the results. It's amazing what new smartphone cameras are capable of picking up.

I would love to know if anyone else in our community spotted this beautiful display. And of course if you have photos, please share.




#observing
#solar
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